Military Duties Recommended, Application 4
USE. IV.
It is hence the Duty of all men to Acknowledge GOD as the Author of All their Mercies.
If it becomes the Souldier to say, Blessed be God for my military Skill or Strength; Surely it is fitting that every man should say, Blessed be God for every Mercy. It is a Iewish Custom to season all their Solemnities, with a Baruk Adonai, a Blessed be the Lord. An… it sufficiently unchristian also to be seldom, or scanty in Blessing of a good GOD. The MERCIES of God are on every side, surrounding every one of us: O where are our HALLELUJAHs? Our Antedatings of Heaven's Work? Why do not we call upon our own dull Souls, as He in Psal. 103. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His Benefits. When Tamerlan the Tartar overcame Bajazet the Turk, He asked his Prisoner, 'Syr, Did you ever give Thanks to God, for making you such a potent Emperor? The Turk answered, No, in Truth, I never thought of That! Whereupon reply'd the Tartar, 'Ah, woful wretch, don't wonder then 'that God has made thee a Spectacle of the 'most rueful miseries in the world. Should a like Enquiry be made of us; Man, hast thou ever from thy Heart, said Blessed be the Lord, who hath given me a Life full of provisions & preservations? Or, Blessed be the Lord, who hath granted me a large Estate? Or Blessed be the Lord, for the Friends that love me? It is to be doubted, many of us must own, No, This hath been quite out of our minds. O shameful Ingratitude! And Ingratitude, That—Ingratum dixeris, et omnia dixeris: That is too vile a thing for a Dog to be guilty of. Let this matter sink down into your hearts this day. The Lord could tell Elisha all that his man Gehazi had received (how much above Three hundred & seventy five pound Sterl.) from the Syrian. Noble-man. Verily, O Soul, this Lord Iehovah keeps an Exact Account of what all thy Receipts from Himself have been. O be not as a silent and a sensless Grave unto the Mercies of a gracious God. Incur not the Doom fore-told by the Apostle when he link'd those two together, unthankful, unholy. Dreadful will be the Danger of such Disingenuity! This Non-payment of Rent, will procure your Ejectment from all that you take pleasure in. Christians, you should receive every mercy (they of old would not speak of their very Afflictions without a Deo Gratias) with a Blessed be God. And should it not be a part of your Task every Evening to reflect and ruminate on the Mercies of the Day foregoing? Yea, And it were most proper, I am sure it were highly profitable, to draw up in your private Memorials a Bill of the principal Mercies for which you are indebted unto God; to be subscribed with a, Lord, I Thank thee: Often affect your selves by Looking into …se Grateful Records, and leave them as an Inheritance with the Children whom you would bequeath your God and Christ and Religion to. It would moreover be far from Improp… …or Unprofitable for you sometimes to keep whole dayes of secret THANKS GIVING unto your Father who seeth in secret; Spending the dayes in Contemplating the Glo…ies of God & Christ, in enumerating and admirin… …is merciful Dispensations towards your sel…, and in contriving, what to render unto the Lord for all His Benefits. One such Day will bring Heaven it Self from on high into you… souls; & it will rarely be any other than a Presag… or a Fore-runner of a more than ordinary Addition to your Mercies.
… short, Be ye THANKFUL.